"Now if you're from Uptown, Brooklyn-bound, The Bronx, Queens, or Long Island Sound. Even other states come right and exact ..." From a hell of a distance away those lines of Rakim's have long held a certain enchantment. And I suspect that's the case too with all the grime tracks that refer to specific parts of London. Does that seem glamorous and mysterious to a listener thousands of miles away? When Wiley is rapping about representing Bow E3 what do people think it's all about when they're from outside the Capital? At least Rakim went on to conclude: "It's ain't where you're from, it's where you're at". For others though where you're from says a lot about where you'll be at. Wiley is I guess the crown prince of grime, and often an inventive and prolific producer. Plenty of his tracks refer explicitly to London, including Living In London, a collaboration with old colleague Tinchy Stryder. Perhaps best of all though is Slippin' which has some nice references to scavenging in Roman Road and so on ...Saturday, 27 March 2010
Bow E3
"Now if you're from Uptown, Brooklyn-bound, The Bronx, Queens, or Long Island Sound. Even other states come right and exact ..." From a hell of a distance away those lines of Rakim's have long held a certain enchantment. And I suspect that's the case too with all the grime tracks that refer to specific parts of London. Does that seem glamorous and mysterious to a listener thousands of miles away? When Wiley is rapping about representing Bow E3 what do people think it's all about when they're from outside the Capital? At least Rakim went on to conclude: "It's ain't where you're from, it's where you're at". For others though where you're from says a lot about where you'll be at. Wiley is I guess the crown prince of grime, and often an inventive and prolific producer. Plenty of his tracks refer explicitly to London, including Living In London, a collaboration with old colleague Tinchy Stryder. Perhaps best of all though is Slippin' which has some nice references to scavenging in Roman Road and so on ...
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I certainly agree with you, I am a fan of grime music and it does have a voice when it comes to the opinion of London. But who are we to argue? Who knows E3 better than Wiley? Better than Dizzee Rascal? It's like Lily Allen with LDN, Dizzee Racal with Do It!, they all represent THEIR London and surely any tourist would have their own London too?
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